Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh describes himself as a first generation politician. He joined the Congress only in January 2018 and yet, a year later he is taking on BJP leader and Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das in the upcoming Assembly elections from Jamshedpur East.
A regular at press conferences at the Congress headquarters at 24 Akbar Road, Mr. Vallabh rose to prominence on the simple question of how many zeroes are there in a trillion that he posed to BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra in the context of Narendra Modi government's claim that India’s economy will reach the $5 trillion mark by 2024. Even as Mr. Patra fumbled, Mr. Vallabh pedantically explained the number of zeroes in a billion, million and trillion (12 zeroes).
The question was definitely a no-brainer for Mr. Vallabh, who holds a doctorate in credit risk management and was taken on as a Professor at the Zavier School of Management at just 32. He teaches financial risk management and management accounting at the B-school.
Suffocating environment
Speaking to The Hindu, the Congress hopeful says no one from his family was into politics. Both his parents are teachers and he is the first generation politician.
“My idea of India was being challenged, people are lynched for their religion. They instructed what to eat and what not eat. This environment was suffocating for me. The party that was the closest to my idea of India was the Congress so I decided to join,” Mr. Vallabh said.
“Every morning I do puja for more than hour and a half. But that doesn't mean that I will go to TV studios and call out people on the basis of the cap they wear. The Union government that tweets on fire in Amazon forests, doesn’t say a word when people are burned or beaten to death on the roads,” he added.
The Congress is likely to propose an anti-lynching law for Jharkhand in its manifesto on the lines of law enacted in Rajasthan. The largely tribal State has seen a spate of incidents of mob violence and lynching since 2015.
“In last 30 months, 700 firms were wound up in Jamshedpur alone and 30,000 workers have lost jobs. Who is responsible for this? My main agenda will be only development, development and development,” Mr. Vallabh said. He adds that in Jharkhand over the last five years, 14,000 government schools have been closed by the NDA government. And instead of schools, the government has focused on opening liquor shops, he alleged.
On the David Vs Goliath contest, Mr. Vallabh says he is going into the contest not against a Chief Minister but against a candidate who failed his constituency. “I am only going to share with my people, this is what you expected, this is what you deserved and this is the delivery,” he says, matter of factly.
The narrative on Article 370 or even the Ram Mandir will have no impact in the State, he asserted.
“The BJP shouted from roof tops in Haryana and Maharashtra about Article 370, but did that work? At the end of the day, people need two square meals in a day, they want employment, they need houses, basic health and education facilities,” Mr. Vallabh said.
More over he points out that the Congress's statement on Ram Mandir was same as the BJP. “We have always maintained that the Congress will abide by the court's verdict. SC has ruled in favour of a Ram Mandir, so are we,” he said.
